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War takes heavy toll on Canadian soldiers’ mental health, study shows

Almost one-quarter of a group of frontline soldiers sent to fight in Afghanistan in 2007 have been diagnosed with mental health problems, according to a new study by the Canadian Forces

In 2007, Cpl., Steve Davidson, then 21, survived a bomb blast but lost three comrades to improvised explosive devices during his tour. He returned home to CFB Petawawa, where he became depressed, anxious and irritable.
Davidson, who was later diagnosed with PTSD, is now out of the military and has returned to school.
(René Johnston / Toronto star file photo)

A Canadian Forces study found that 13 per cent of soldiers sent to Afghanistan picked up a mental health problem, such as depression, anxiety and mood disorders or substance abuse problems, while overseas. The rate of PTSD was 8 per cent. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

By Allan WoodsOttawa Bureau

Tues., Nov. 15, 2011

KINGSTON—Almost one-quarter of a group of frontline soldiers sent to fight in Afghanistan in 2007 have been diagnosed with mental health problems, according to a new study by the Canadian Forces.

The figure shines a light on the psychological risks facing Canada’s battle-hardened veterans not only in CFB Gagetown, where the study was conducted, but at CFB Petawawa in Ontario, CFB Edmonton in Alberta, CFB Valcartier in Quebec and at other major military bases where soldiers have deployed in great numbers over the last few years.

The study of 792 members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, found 23.1 per cent of soldiers who served in Kandahar four years ago were now being treated for their mental health problems.

One in five of those soldiers have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, one of the chief health risks to Canadian soldiers after a decade of combat in Afghanistan.

The study was presented Tuesday at a military health-care conference here that is bringing together some of the country’s best minds to share the latest research on how to help soldiers with broken minds and bodies.

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“Our results are high because they represent a specific high-risk cohort. Those numbers don’t apply across the (Canadian Forces),” said Maj. Paul Sedge, a psychiatrist at the New Brunswick base who is conducting the study.

Separately, the military released what they say is the definitive study on the rate of mental health for all Canadian Forces members who have deployed to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2008, building in a five-year window for more than 30,000 soldiers involved to identify any health problems and seek treatment.

The findings are based on actual medical diagnoses rather than pen-and-paper surveys that have in the past been handed out to soldiers. It makes Canada’s military the first to complete such an in-depth study into its soldiers’ mental health.

It found that 13 per cent of soldiers sent to Afghanistan picked up a mental health problem, such as depression, anxiety and mood disorders or substance abuse problems, while overseas. The rate of PTSD was 8 per cent.

Since 2008, an additional 10,000 soldiers have served in Kandahar, meaning the military can expect to see upwards of 5,200 soldiers in need of intensive treatment for one of the chief injuries of the decade long conflict.

Senator Roméo Dallaire, a retired general who has fought a public battle with PTSD, warned of a possible explosion in cases as over-extended soldiers wind down the “high-tempo, high-octane way of life” lived over the last few years.

“They’re now back in garrison, starting to lick their wounds. As they’re licking those wounds they’re going to have a lot of time on their hands and those drawers that were closed by the power of that adrenaline and that intensity of their commitments are going to start opening and catching them by surprise,” he said.

Previous studies have pegged the rate of PTSD at about 4 per cent. A follow-on study put the figure at 6 per cent one year after a group of soldiers return home from war.

Commodore Hans Jung said he anticipated “double digit” figures, but had to keep quiet about the ongoing research despite the many critics who blasted the force for failing to provide a tally of soldiers suffering mental health problems. He didn’t want the report to be rushed into print before it was ready.

“These are methodical processes. It took us three years because we had to be statistically pure about a lot of these things,” he said in an interview. “I was fully confident I’d be able to come out ahead of any other NATO country, or western country, and we’ve done it today.”

Taken together, the two reports point to one unshakeable conclusion: The more times a soldier feels the eruption of a roadside bomb, the more ambushes that soldier fends off, the more soldiers are forced to comfort a dying comrade on the battlefield, the higher the risk of mental health problems down the road.

Sedge, who is also tracking a group of Gagetown soldiers who went to Kandahar last year, said three-quarters of them reported being involved in firefights during their tour, saw people injured or killed and lost friends. Twenty per cent were responsible for killing or injuring another person.

Within the group of hardened combat veterans, the most vulnerable to mental health problems are young, in the army and either fighting on the frontlines or posted to multiple locations during their tours.

They are soldiers like Cpl. Steve Davidson, a member of the Royal Canadian Dragoons’ armoured reconnaissance squadron, who was first profiled in the Star last year.

In the spring of 2007, Davidson, then 21, survived a bomb blast but lost three comrades to improvised explosive devices during his tour. They included his best friend, Trooper Darryl Caswell

He returned home to CFB Petawawa a detached shell of his former self. He was depressed, anxious and irritable but recognized his problems only when his friends returned to their normal behaviours and personalities while his symptoms intensified.

As soon as Davidson admitted to base doctors that he was struggling, he was diagnosed with PTSD. He is now out of the military and has returned to school.

The military-wide study also found that female soldiers, though deployed in lower numbers to Afghanistan, have fared worse than their male counterparts. More than 15 per cent of women were diagnosed with PTSD, depression and substance abuse problems compared to 13 per cent of men.

Reservists, who have made up about one-fifth of the military’s Afghan force in more recent deployments, also reported suffering mental health problems more frequently than their regular force counterparts.

The authors of the study caution that despite cross referencing three databases to ensure cases weren’t being missed, the figures don’t capture those who have sought care outside of the military health-care system, those who are still waiting for medical help and those who were seen by primary care clinics and not referred onto a psychiatrist.

The results also largely exclude the psychological effects of combat on JTF2 and other special forces’ personnel because any information on their activities is classified for security reasons.

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